I am a woman who likes schedules and routines and security and safety. In a word, boring, but I don’t care in the least. I will accept my quiet little life and enjoy it to the fullest. I’ve already had my turn at harried, stressful, demanding, hectic, and too, too busy, thank you.
I also like surprises in tiny doses…one or two a week would be fine. So finding a scorpion in the laundry room at 5am and a snakeskin in the yard at 7:30 was just a little too surprising for one morning. LOL I’m still looking over my shoulder.
The yard was otherwise “uneventful” this morning, but there is always something new to look at. The first hibiscus bloomed yesterday, followed by four blooms this morning. These are about the size of an adult hand and such a pretty color. The buddleias are all blooming, including the tiny new pink one. The sunflowers are flourishing. The corn is getting taller. The tomatoes are turning. And my favorite little tree, Vitex, is blooming!
Vitex is a wonderful, wonderful tree and I just can’t say enough about how perfect it is for our area. It is pretty, drought tolerant, deer resistant, and soft enough to “trim and train” like a crape myrtle. One of my friends keeps hers trimmed like a poodle and others let theirs grow like bushes. Texas plants them in their medians and Texas A&M developed an even bigger, prettier variety than mine. I have five that are decedents of trees planted by my great-grandmother. My father gave them to me and of course three are pale pink, my least favorite color, but one is purple, and the other has yet to bloom. Since they are grown from seed dropped by the old trees it isn’t always possible to predict what color a tree will be, so I take the pink with the purple. I have also seen a “white” but it wasn’t a true white or even a pretty white. No matter what the color, the blossoms attract almost anything that flies, especially butterflies.
We are already in the hot, hot, hot phase of summer with temperatures at 95+. That means I spend a great deal of time watering, moving hoses, watering, moving hoses. I bought new hoses this week. Hate dealing with kinks and little tears that leak in all the wrong places! My daily one-third-of-the-yard watering might seem like a waste to some. I know I could save time and be more efficient with some soaker hoses or drip irrigation or whatever. The truth is that I enjoy my time in the garden and I put it to good use by thinking, “writing in my head”, taking photographs, praying, and planning.
Today is going to be a lazy day. Gary is recovering from some minor surgery and some major dental work. We are hoping he feels well enough to attend a party tonight. He begins his vacation this weekend and we have some minor trips planned for next week. I’m ready for a few pleasant surprises!
I hope your day surprises you and makes you smile.
Scorpions and snakes. I'm super glad to live in the suburbs.
I find watering to be very therapeutic too. Too bad you can't just hook up some sort of watering system to your pond. Hmmmm. . . . wouldn't that be nice every now and then?
Posted by: Megan | June 11, 2011 at 08:05 PM